Pamela Lyndon P.L. Travers, OBE (ˈtrævərs; born Helen Lyndon Goff; 9 August 1899 – 23 April 1996) was an Australian-born British novelist, actress and journalist. She is known best for the Mary Poppins series of childrens books featuring the magical English nanny Mary Poppins.Upon emigrating to England in 1924, Goff began to write under the pen name P. L. Travers. In 1933, she began writing the novel Mary Poppins, first of the Poppins books. Travers travelled to New York City during World War II while working for the British Ministry of Information. At that time, Walt Disney contacted her about selling to Disney Studios the rights for a film adaptation of Mary Poppins, whose sequel Mary Poppins Comes Back was also in print. After years of contact, which included visits to Travers at her home in London, Walt Disney did obtain the rights and the Disney film Mary Poppins premièred in 1964. In 2004, a new British musical theatre adaptation of the books and the film opened in the West End; it premiered on Broadway in 2006.For services to literature, Travers was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1977.
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